Secondary menu

You are here

Blogs

With a background in mainstream journalism, Sam has now headed Security Systems News for the past four years, and is a programmer of TechSec Solutions, a conference that explores the impact of IP technology on the security industry.
He's married, has two children, and doesn't bother to lock his doors up here in Maine. But, shhhhh, don't tell anyone.

I'm not sure how many people are aware of Techwell, a chip-maker who's got product in (according to them) 70 percent of DVRs. They drive the playback engine, essentially. You can read about their HD play here.
Anyway, they announced last week new revenue projections that speak to a significant slowdown in security surveillance sales.
The numbers are somewhat irrelevant. Here's the nut graph:
"Several of our larger security customers in Taiwan and China have pushed out orders in the last two weeks as a result of a build-up of inventory in their factories," said Hiro Kozato, Techwell President and CEO. "It is clear the current economic environment is impacting our core security business as well as our automotive and consumer businesses. However, we remain confident in our long term business prospects. Our design activity with our recently announced TW2880 HD Controller is strong and we believe that our product portfolio, profitability and significant cash balance will help us successfully manage through the current economic challenges."
A build-up of inventory in the factories isn't a good sign. Product isn't moving, isn't being installed, isn't being sold. The chip-makers are at the beginning of the pipeline and when the slowdown hits them, it means it's hitting everyone.

The CSAA announced in late November that yet another central station had achieved Five Diamond Certification. Commercial Instruments & Alarm Systems, Inc. of Fishkill, N.Y. earned the certification by putting 100% of their central station operators through the CSAA's Central Station On-Line Operator Training Course.
The training courses cover virtually all phases of central station communications with customers, law enforcement, fire and emergency services communications centers.
In order to achieve Five Diamond Certification each and every operator must have not only passed the course, but demonstrated: proficiency in alarm verification, which helps reduce false alarms; proficiency in communications with public service answering points, such as 911 and other emergency responders; knowledge of electronic communications equipment, including radio; an understanding of the codes and standards of such organizations as Underwriters Laboratories, the National Fire Protection Association and others; as well as proficiency in the area of emergency preparedness under a wide scenario of possibilities.
There are approximately 2,700 central stations in the United States, which communicate and interact with the law enforcement, fire and emergency service agencies. Of this group, fewer than 100 centrals have achieved Five Diamond status.
Intrigued by this training offering from the CSAA, I decided to check it out and am in the process of undergoing the Central Station Operator Level One online course now. The training is administered by the CMOOR Group. CMOOR principle Chris Moorhead spent some time on the phone with me and made sure I was ready to go.
Interested central station managers can check out the offerings and demo the course for free.

Well, it looks like the rumors and speculation had merit: Panasonic has made a formal offer to purchase Sanyo.
Not surprisingly, the WSJ doesn't mention either company's security divisions, as they are small pieces of a very large puzzle, but I found this paragraph particularly interesting:
For Panasonic, the deal comes down to Sanyo's green technology products. Sanyo, the world's largest producer of rechargeable batteries for laptop computers, digital cameras and mobile phones, is poised to capitalize on the auto industry's shift to hybrid and electric cars.
Maybe people remember Sanyo's solar-powered "green" cameras at IFSEC 2007? I'd of course love to see Panasonic embrace green practices in the security industry as part of this greening of the company in general.
Still, this deal isn't exactly done yet:
Panasonic said it will commence by the end of February a tender offer for Sanyo shares at Ã‚Â¥131 ($1.50) each, a 4% discount to Sanyo's Friday closing price of Ã‚Â¥136. Panasonic plans to issue up to Ã‚Â¥400 billion in debt from next year to finance part of the acquisition.
A lot of things can happen between now and February.

I wrote a story last month that appeared on Security Systems News' newswire, and which will appear in our next issue. The story was about the Seattle Police pushing for compliance to the city's municipal code, part of which requires the use of enhanced call verification. In Seattle, beginning the first of the year, central stations will be required to make two verification calls to alarm owners to ensure the alarm is real as opposed to false.
Just Tuesday (Dec. 16), I came across another story from the Star News online about the city of Elk River, Minn. recently adopting an ordinance requiring enhanced call verification as well.
Police from both Seattle and Elk River point out that the new two-call-to-the-end-user requirement is part of a much needed false alarm reduction endeavor.

I know I'm a little late to the party on this, but if you haven't seen the video that Hitachi is using to promote its "Dawn of the Tera Era" you need to check it out right now. It's the trippy-est thing I've seen since we threw on the original animated Lord of the Rings back in college.
Especially if you grew up on Schoolhouse Rock, as I did, this is just about the perfect mix of nostalgic schlock and simply mind-blowing silliness. But, hey, I guess you come away knowing just how big a terabyte is.
And, yes, Hitachi is using this video as part of its pitch for "surveillance optimized" storage.
Oh, and as a little early Christmas present from me to you, here's Hitachi's even better video, explaining perpendicular storage (it's from 2006, but it's got Spanish subtitles, so I just couldn't resist - not to mention that brilliant Bay City Rollers rip-off that comes in at about the 1:45 mark):

I saw this story this morning and was reminded that it's probably a good idea to always be on your best behavior, especially in a day and age when surveillance video solutions are becoming more and more widespread. Public building perimeters, private business perimeters, parking lots, street intersections, concerned private citizens... you never know when you'll be the unwitting star of captured video.
I blogged last week on courtesy and how we could all benefit from a little more gratitude and a more polite approach, and now I guess I'm saying that maybe if we all acted on our best behavior at all times, acted as though we were being observed--whether by our ancestors, by God, by Karma, by surveillance infrastructure, or by a concerned tourist is up to you--maybe everyone would come out ahead.

Those summer model alarm companies are sure competitive. The photo above is a moving van full of donated non-perishable food items that Platinum Protection donated to the Community Action Food Bank in Utah County and the Utah Food Bank in Salt Lake County last weekend.
Platinum had 400 employees hit the streets on Dec. 12 for a food drive, and their efforts "broke the record for the largest one-day, door-to-door corporate food drive, bringing in a grand total of 34,000 pounds of food," according to this press release that they sent me this morning.
From the release: "We have broken the record the last two years as the fastest growing alarm company in the history of our industry by knocking doors," said Jeremy Pixton, a co-owner of Platinum Protection. "This time the record we wanted to break was giving back to those that are in need and doing it by knocking doors. We felt this was a good opportunity to teach our employees the value of giving back."
A few weeks ago, I wrote a story about summer-model companies expanding their philanthropic deeds and public relations efforts. In that story I reported that Apx Alarm "had made the largest donation in history to the Utah Community Action Service Services Food Bank."
This is the kind of competition I can appreciate, and I'm pretty sure that Apx will up the ante again. I'm thinking Josh Houser's going to call me this afternoon to let me know what Apx is doing next.
How about you non-summer sales model companies? Let me know what you're doing along these lines as well.